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I have a Vista 258 in which i have installed a portable air conditioner in the aft cabin. The exhaust hose is placed against the aft cabin window to exhaust the warm air. Obviously when air is blowing out the window air has to come from somewhere (similar to cold air return on furnaces). I get gas fume smell coming into the aft cabin area when the AC is running. Where/how are gas fumes coming in? Must be the gas tank which is under the cabin. How do I resolve the problem??

Thanks for your help,
Ken

Just my opinion, but I would move the airconditioner to the hatch on the bow, and have a "hood" with snaps made to secure it to the deck. I would not trust an A/C unit like that on board and inside a boat. My neighbor did just that with his SR 270DA, and it works great.
He just removes the A/C unit when he takes the boat out.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Find the source of the smell FIRST. Is it a gas smell or an old oil/engine smell? Clean the bilge(s) thoroughly and see if it eliminates the smell. If it's just an old engine smell cleaning the bilge should reduce it. If it's a gas smell then how old are the fuel lines? If they're more than 5 years old they may need replacing. Rubber hoses, even ones designed to carry fuel, don't last forever. While some folks get a lot of years out of their hoses, most will degrade enough in five years to warrant replacement. It's not a terribly difficult job, just remove the hose clamps, pull the old hoses, measure new ones to match and reinstall. It helps to get a rough estimate of how much hose is in there and then buy a spool of it in bulk.

AC systems pull air from anywhere they can get it. Even with built-in systems this often means pulling air up from the forward bilge area. This might be stale smelling but it should NEVER smell like gas fumes.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I have recently bought a 2004 288 Vista that might have a gas tank issue. There is a stale gas smell that comes and goes. At first I thought it was just engine room smell that was being circulated by the A/C unit. I have succeeded in stopping that by closing any openings, from the engine area, to the A/C plenum. The A/C now breaths only from the cabin and all is well below.
However, it is almost impossible to live in the cockpit area now. The smell now seems to be coming up through openings beside the port side lounge seat and through substructure where the cabin door slides.
The boat is pristine through out. The bilge is as white as my butt. Hoses look perfect and the clamps are tight. There is not a single drip from anywhere on the engine, while running or standing. The smell is stale but strong. Not raw gasoline. I did set-off the gas sensor once when I had removed the vent hose and was blowing through it to see if it was clear. That led me to look for tank vents on the outside of the hull. There are none, but I did find that they vent to the fill areas and the fill cap has a vent to the atmosphere through a small valve that seems to be ok. Maybe something to do with the California Certification??
When I bought the boat the previous owner was strangely, to me, running the engines off the starboard tank and the port side had almost no fuel in it. There was no evidence of trouble during three visits to the boat before purchase, one being an hour long cruise.
This issue was discussed here a couple of years ago but I am not able to fine how a definitive diagnosis is made or what the cure is.
Thanks
Steve

Are you pulling fresh air from right above a fuel tank vent?

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I don't think I'm bringing the smell in it's more of how to exhaust it from the boat. Putting on the bilge blower will clear the smell but it would have to be on almost constantly. And even more, were is it coming from. The engine room and vicinity of the exterior, near the fuel fill/vents, are much cleaner smelling than the cockpit area.